The future is in our past -
You've heard me say many times that we haven't scratched the surface of child abuse. Two incidents last week lend support to that idea. A Roman Catholic Bishop, Raymond Lahey, from Nova Scotia was arrested for importing and possessing child pornography, and the famous movie director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for fleeing justice 30 years ago. Mr. Polanski fled after pleading guilty to having sex with a minor.
What is interesting about the two incidents is the different feelings they generate. Whilst many people feel the men should pay heavily for their crimes, there are more people ready to give Mr. Polanski the benefit of doubt than those ready to say a kind word about the Bishop.
Bishop Lahey had recently been in the news for helping to negotiate a settlement for Nova Scotia's Roman Catholic victims of child abuse. At the time, he issued a formal apology and hoped that the church would never again have to negotiate through such an experience.
Now it's Bishop Lahey who is spinning the church on its heels. People aren't only outraged but also thoroughly disheartened. No elite figure is rushing to the defense of Bishop Lahey.
On the other hand, the cream of the crop, the elite of the world's artistic and political community, is supporting Mr. Polanski, whose movies often speak about sexual attraction and troubled minds. Even though Mr. Polanski is a fugitive, politician and artist alike are saying so much time has passed that this great director shouldn't have to face the music of justice.
Were Mr. Polanski's supporters so arrogant and sheltered from reality that they truly believed their weight could serve to free the rapist? Perhaps, but they didn't recon with a public that's trying to come to terms with rape and incest at all levels of society.
Mr. Polanski used his status to trap, drug and rape a 13-year-old girl, and the public says finally he must pay for his crime. He must also pay for fleeing justice.
In the face of public reaction, some elites who had been willing to ignore or make excuses for Polanski are pulling in their horns. Yet, it's interesting to note that others still insist that Mr. Polanski is to be pitied because he lost his mother in a concentration camp and his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, to Charles Manson's followers. "The poor man has suffered enough!" His suffering should be a get out of jail free card.
In this rush to pity the perpetrator, the girl who was raped by Mr. Polanski is still being cast aside like a piece of garbage. At best she is put out in front to say that she has forgiven Mr. Polanski and wishes to forget the episode.
That's understandable. But does it reduce what she went through? We are slowly dealing with the attitude that says important people shouldn't be treated the same as ordinary mortals. The next big hurdle for us to explore is why we give the usual lame excuses for people who abuse others.
That's not to say that we should throw abusers on the thrash heap. Abusers, too, have been abused. They are continuing the cycle. Mr. Polanski's life was a life of abuse. The Nazis and Charles Manson gave him a harsh reality. The big question is: should Mr. Polanski's life and talent be an excuse for abuse?
We don't know much about Bishop Lahey's life. It wouldn't be too big a stretch to imagine that he, too, had been abused as a child. We do know that, like Polanski, he is an intelligent and talented man. He studied in Rome and at Cambridge University and earned his PhD when he was just 26 years old.
Over the past 20 years, sympathy and support for priests have dwindled. Unlike Polanski, no one is sticking his/her neck out for Bishop Lahey. The Pope didn't waste any time accepting his resignation.
It's interesting to note that, suffering from the backlash of public opinion, even some of Mr. Polanski's supporters are trying to backtrack. Will the elite understand the message?
At least one person will be forever tied to Mr. Polanski. Whoopi Goldberg's statement that Mr. Polanski's crime was not "rape-rape" will go down as one of the most stupid statements of all time and tarnish her forever. Perhaps it takes a stupid statement to bring home forcibly the enormity of the rape issue.
Having sex with children, whether forced or bribed, is despicable. Children, by definition, have not the maturity nor knowledge to realize what is happening. Men and women who believe they have the right to control others are sad, tormented, besieged creatures who live constantly with demons.
The life of the abuser is not a pretty life. Yet, it's not a life devoid of talent, as we can see from the nature of the perpetrators. The next question is: will we continue to put entertainment before justice? Or, at some point, will we stand up tall and admit that humans are a selfish, brutal, indecent lot and head down the wharf for the there's-no-excuse-for-abuse boat?
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